Pique'n yer interest

The good, bad and ugly at Pemby Fest

People complain too much, all the time, about everything. The
problem is expectations — when something goes wrong in our perfect little
worlds we take it personally, focusing on the negative instead of the positive.
People will bitch for days about the waitress who got their order wrong,
oblivious to how busy said waitress and kitchen may have been, how apologetic
she was after the fact, or what she did to correct the problem. We expect
perfection from everyone but ourselves. We, personally, are allowed to be
human.

We lack empathy. We crave sympathy. It’s pathetic.

That said, I heard a lot of complaints about everything at
Pemberton Music Festival — the lines, the dust, the prices, the sound quality, the
hours of operation, the highway, the guy camping two tents over who was
snoring. The list is long. I’m not saying that the festival was perfect, it
could obviously use a few changes when and if it returns, but it’s important to
put everything into perspective — the organizers pulled off a 40,000-plus
person music festival with some of the biggest bands in the world, based out of
a town with a population of just over 2,000, on a farm field that hasn’t seen
much rain in two months, with only a two-lane highway for people to get in or
out. If you didn’t enjoy yourself even a little bit you’re probably a miserable
person all around. Nothing in the world could possibly please you. You’re the
type of person that would complain about lugging bug spray all the way to the
concert when there weren’t any bugs — like one guy I had the misfortune to
overhear.

I’ve put together a list of the good, bad and ugly at the
festival, and suggestions how things could be improved next year. If there is a
next year.

The good — The lineup of bands was incredible, and the sound
quality from the stages was unbelievable all through the show. The one
exception was N.E.R.D., who arrived late without an opportunity to do a proper
soundcheck, but by the end of their set the engineers had that dialed in as
well.

Also good was the marketplace, and the variety of food
available. Some of it was actually healthy and the prices were reasonable
considering the opportunity to gouge. The water station also meant you didn’t
have to buy water bottles every time you got thirsty, which was often
considering the heat and the dust. All of us were suffering from acute
Pember-lung by the end of the festival.

The people were also good, mostly. I didn’t see or hear about
any fights, and concertgoers were generally courteous to each other — pretty
amazing when you consider how easy it was to buy or smuggle in alcohol. My
wristband, backpack and stroller weren’t checked once in three days of the
festival.